Air monitoring system for vehicle interior

1. A vehicle air monitoring system, comprising: a housing defining an interior, wherein the housing defines an inlet; an airflow assembly disposed within the interior of the housing, wherein the airflow assembly includes a pump configured to draw an air sample into an airflow passage via the inlet and wherein the airflow assembly includes a conduit with a decreasing size to separate airborne particles from the air sample; a detection assembly in fluid communication with the airflow passage of the airflow assembly to receive the airborne particles, wherein the detection assembly includes: a biochip having a hydrolayer with inorganic nanoprobes embedded therein that include chemical linkers that bind with a binding site of select airborne particles from the air sample; a light source on a first side of the biochip and configured to illuminate the biochip; and a photodetector on a second opposing side of the biochip that is vertically aligned with the light source and configured to receive emitted light from the light source that is passed through the biochip, wherein received light is quantified as a photocurrent of the photodetector, and wherein bound nanoprobes change optical characteristics and, consequently, an optical transmission of the biochip for allowing transmission of the emitted light therethrough; and a control assembly in communication with the airflow assembly and the detection assembly, wherein the control assembly is configured to: activate the pump to draw the air sample into the airflow passage; correlate the photocurrent of the photodetector to the optical transmission of the biochip for allowing transmission of the emitted light therethrough; compare the photocurrent by the photodetector with a predefined baseline photocurrent to determine a change in the optical transmission of the biochip; and communicate particle data to a remote device.

2. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the light source is configured to emit light having a wavelength in a range from 200 nm to 400 nm.

3. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the detection assembly includes a collection unit having a microfluidic particle trapping chamber in fluid communication with the airflow passage.

4. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the particle data includes a change in the photocurrent of the photodetector over a period of time.

5. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the housing defines a receiving slot for receiving a test strip sample into the detection assembly between the light source and the photodetector, and wherein the control assembly is configured to determine an optical transmission of the test strip sample by comparing the photocurrent of the photodetector to determine a baseline optical transmission for the test strip sample.

6. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the control assembly is configured to determine a density of airborne particles in the air sample based on the change in the photocurrent by the photodetector.

7. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the control assembly is configured to determine a particle population in an area surrounding the housing based on a photocurrent variation of the change in the photocurrent of the photodetector compared to the baseline photocurrent.

8. An air monitoring system for a vehicle, comprising: a housing; an airflow assembly disposed within the housing, wherein the airflow assembly is configured to draw an air sample into the housing via an inlet; a detection assembly disposed within the housing and in fluid communication with the airflow assembly, wherein the detection assembly includes: a biochip including a hydrolayer that incorporates inorganic biologically functional nanoparticles embedded therein, the inorganic biologically functional nanoparticles having chemical linkers that bind to binding sites of select airborne particles directly from the air sample, wherein bound airborne particles and nanoparticles change optical characteristics of the hydrolayer for transmission of light therethrough; a light source configured to emit the light through the biochip; and a photodetector, wherein the biochip is positioned directly between the light source and the photodetector, a photocurrent of the photodetector configured to correspond with an optical transmission of the biochip, wherein the photocurrent changes in response to the change in the optical characteristics caused by the bound nanoparticles; and a controller configured to monitor a change in the optical transmission of the biochip based on the change of the photocurrent of the photodetector to determine a presence and a density of the select airborne particles within the air sample.

9. The air monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to determine a density of the airborne particles in the air sample based on the optical transmission of the biochip.

10. The air monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the light source is configured to emit light having a wavelength between 200 nm and about 400 nm.

11. The air monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to generate a notification with the photocurrent of the photodetector over a predefined period of time.

12. The air monitoring system of claim 11, wherein the controller is configured to generate the notification to include an indicator of the photocurrent relative to a maximum photocurrent.

13. The air monitoring system of claim 8, wherein the controller is configured to determine a particle population of the airborne particles in an environment surrounding the housing based on a difference between the photocurrent of the photodetector and a baseline photocurrent stored in the controller.

14. The air monitoring system of claim 8, further comprising: an indicator light configured to be activated by the controller in response to the presence of the select airborne particles.

15. A method of monitoring air within a vehicle, comprising: drawing an air sample through a conduit that has at least a portion with a smaller diameter and into a housing via a pump; separating airborne particles from the air sample by creating a pressure differential, the airborne particles being directed into a connecting conduit that extends away from the conduit at the portion with the smaller diameter and to a detection assembly; illuminating a biochip of the detection assembly; binding select airborne particles directly from the air sample with chemical linkers of plasmonic nanoprobe embedded in a hydrolayer of the biochip; changing an optical characteristic of the hydrolayer with bound nanoprobes; determining an optical transmission of the biochip based on a photocurrent of a photodetector from illumination through the biochip; determining particle data for the air sample based on the optical transmission, and monitoring a change in the optical transmission of the biochip based on a change in the photocurrent.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of separating the airborne particle from the air sample includes generating a negative pressure with the pump to drive the particle into a microfluidic particle trapping chamber.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the particle data includes determining a density of the airborne particles in the air sample based on the change in the photocurrent and determining a particle population based on the change in the photocurrent relative to a baseline photocurrent.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of illuminating the biochip includes emitting light having a wavelength in a range from 200 nm to 400 nm through the biochip to the photodetector.

19. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, wherein the nanoprobes are plasmonic biologically functional gold nanoparticles with an anti-glycoprotein that binds to a glycoprotein binding site of the select airborne particles.

20. The vehicle air monitoring system of claim 1, further comprising: a retaining wall disposed between the airflow assembly and the detection assembly and defining an aperture, wherein the airflow assembly includes a connecting conduit that extends away from the conduit, and wherein the connecting conduit is in fluid communication with the detection assembly via the aperture.